News Release| Inaugural Greater Los Angeles Engineer of the Year Award; Cal State L.A.

July 21, 2010

Note to journalists:  To arrange photo shoots or interviews with award recipients, please contact the Cal State L.A. Public Affairs office in advance at (323) 343-3050.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to receive ‘President’s Award ‘ 

Cal State L.A. to honor seven prominent leaders at awards gala July 29

 

Los Angeles, CA – Physics Nobel Laureate Steven Chu, who is the 12th U.S. Secretary of Energy, will be presented a prestigious “President’s Award” at Cal State L.A.’s Greater Los Angeles Engineer of the Year Awards Gala  Thursday, July 29.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology at Cal State L.A., the gala will be held at the Golden Eagle Ballroom on the CSULA campus, beginning with a VIP reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by a dinner program at 7 p.m. 

Prior to his appointment to the U.S. Department of Energy, Chu was a professor of physics and molecular and cellular biology at UC Berkeley and director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where his research was concerned primarily with the study of biological systems at the single molecule level. He was also previously a member of the Stanford University faculty, where he advanced laser cooling techniques to include atomic interferometry and frequency standards.

An atomic physicist, Chu received the Nobel Prize for his pioneering use of laser beams to slow atoms and molecules so that they could be trapped in a small space.  In 1999, he presented “Holding on to Atoms and Molecules With Laser Light” at Cal State L.A.’s 16th Annual Leon Pape Memorial Lecture.

In addition to Chu, there will be six distinguished leaders to be honored:

  •          Alan J. Fohrer, Southern California Edison (Los Angeles Engineering Leadership Award)
  •          John Tracy, The Boeing Company (Los Angeles Designer of the Year)
  •          Emanuel Brady, Raytheon (Los Angeles Information Technologist of the Year)
  •          Alfred Mann, entrepreneur (Los Angeles Technology Entrepreneur of the Year)
  •          Mrs. Intissar Durham, Los Angeles World Airports (Los Angeles Engineering Public Servant of the Year)
  •          Armando Ramirez, AECOM (Los Angeles Engineering Project of the Year)

With a motto to “Inspire, Support, Transform,” the Friends of the Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology is a professional community supporting and advancing the educational programs in the areas of engineering, computer science, and technology at Cal State L.A.

All proceeds from the awards dinner will support the University’s College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology. For details, call Lily Nguyen, director of strategic initiatives, at (323) 343-5604.

#  #  #

 

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 215,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu